Saturday, April 29, 2017

Oh boy! This has been a satisfying week. I had not one, not two, but THREE finishes!!!

Three of us at the weekly sew group made this lone star pattern. Each chose their own fabrics so they don’t look exactly alike, but they are really impressive. We will have to see about getting a pic of all three together . . . if we can find a big enough space!

A closer look. My stars don’t show at all well in photos – they have a gold sparkle, so better in person.

Finish number 2. The longer I worked on this one, the less I like it. I’m not real fond of the intense colors, but I suppose I will like it better when I’m not looking at it every day. Besides, there’s sure to be somebody out there who will love it!

I do love the fabric in the center of the stars, though. I only had a fat quarter of it, though, so star centers it is.

And Finish Number 3! I believe I showed some of the blocks here earlier. All that embroidery (well, almost all) is in “twilling” which is basically a row of knots. It is a lot of hand work, but goes fairly quickly. That said, I think I’ve been working on this for almost six months. It is less than 50 inches long, so – yeah – I guess it was a lot of work.

I can’t call this a finish since it’s a Block of the Month and we’re only on Month 7 (I think). But I am all caught up! That does not happen very often with long-range projects like this. The last time I showed you this (here) the rows were separate. Now they are stitched together – even frogged and re-stitched! Apparently I cannot count . . . or measure!

All these finishes mean I’ve cleared the decks for a couple of dolls I need to get busy with. Or . . . these finishes were delaying actions because I don’t know what to do with those dolls! I guess time will tell.

Sunday, April 2, 2017

The Farmer’s Wife was a woman’s magazine during the early 1900’s, and The Farmer’s Wife is the name of the current Block of the Month at my local quilt shop. The blocks are a selection of those published in the magazine and the fabrics are all 1930s reproductions.

These are 6” paper-pieced blocks and they range from simple 9-patch to tear-your-hair-out complicated! If you are not in love with paper-piecing, maybe you should not make this quilt!!

I have almost four columns done so far – only the fourth one stops at the floor. This is going to be a Very Big Quilt!

I am loving the fabrics in this project. And, yeah, I love some of the blocks. Just not all of them. Ha!

Friday, March 24, 2017

Rikki is sculpted of polymer clay and she’s a larger size than I usually work with. That’s because she will only be the head and shoulders. Right now, she is waiting for ears and then hair and painted details. The “clothes” are temporary, although I do like the orange against her skin. It’s a lady’s handkerchief from Australia!

Rikki is the first in a series of classes at A for Artistic, called Children of the World. I’ve had a lot of fun with this class and am looking forward to doing more in this series.

I’ll show Rikki off when she’s finished and I’m sure you’ll see more of these busts in the future. Stay tuned!

Thursday, March 16, 2017

So, way back here, I showed you some Stack ‘n Whack blocks. I finished the blocks themselves and started to put them together in an on-point layout.

Thinking I was about half way done, I pinned it to the wall to see how it looked. Uh oh. Let’s take a closer look:

Alrighty then. A little basic geometry reveals the problem (if not a solution yet). These blocks are rectangular instead of square. Thus, the angle is not 45 degrees, which is the basis of the typical on-point quilt. Well, I never could do math in my head!

So, I will be spending some quality time with my seam ripper and then take another look at layout options. I do like how the background forms those diamonds, so I think I’ll start there. Stay tuned for the next installment of Life with the Mathematically Challenged!

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

POTC = Patchwork of the Cross (see my original post here.) There has been progress. I now have nine blocks complete.

These make great portable projects or for watching TV. I have a small box full of pre-cut fabric and I can baste them to the papers in no time. Some require fussy cutting, but use of a glue stick speeds that process up, too.

However, this project has been placed on hold for the time being. Why? Because of this:

This is one of the blocks for “Paisley Parade” by Of One Mind and the embroidery stitch is called ‘twilling.’ For the seasoned embroiderist, it is also known as ‘palestrina stitch.’ I took a class in November and saw the pattern in their shop and had to have it!

So far I have six blocks completed – out of 12, so six more to go. There’s sashing and filler blocks so it will take awhile to have a complete quilt top. Here is what I have so far:

I love paisley! And I’m finding this stitch to be almost meditative. And even more portable than POTC. On a recent road trip, I could stitch as long as there was daylight – or when I was not required to read road signs. I’m the designated navigator, so it’s always my fault if we go wrong . . . always. But that’s a story for another time perhaps.

And while I’m working on Paisley, I can decide how large I want to make POTC.

Sunday, March 12, 2017

This is the cover of the January issue of American Quilter. I just love this combination of flying geese and star burst.

I don’t usually make a magazine pattern until long after the magazine comes out. I will (sometimes) flag the page and (usually) forget all about it until (nearly always) several years later. But this one is just too pretty to forget – especially when I played around with color changes in Electric Quilt.

I love how it came out and I think it is prettier than the magazine version – if I do say so myself. It’s about 47 inches square, so I could quilt it on my home machine. For now, though, I’m enjoying the view while I consider quilting options.

Saturday, March 11, 2017

My, it’s certainly been quiet on this blog, hasn’t it? The last time I posted – TWO MONTHS AGO! – I promised a look at my quilt on the longarm. Now that it has been quilted, bound, and showed at guild meeting, here you go!

As you might guess, I have lots of other things to show you. Two months translates into a lot of sewing and crafting! But, rather than load your computer (and patience) by trying to give it to you all at once, I plan to do a bunch of shorter posts. Hopefully, by the time we are all caught up, I will have slipped back into the blogging habit.